(Gender) Diversity and Building Community in Data Science

Disclaimer

• “Data science” is not a specific category in most research yet, so the slides that follow will include fields incorporated into and related to data science but often not called “data science”
  
  
  
  

Percent of male and female college grads who are data scientists

Percent of data scientists who are male and female

WTF?

Women data scientists are satisified with the salary

Women data scientists are satisified with the opportunities for advancement

Seriously then…

Gender bias and lack of representation begin in early education

And continue in college classrooms

And proceed straight into the job market

And workplace environment

…here is my brother and a pink bicycle

Shockingly, women leave

And then things like this happen

Lame. How do we get out of this mess?

We can be visible

What can be/seek role models

We can teach about stereotypes/Use counter-stereotypes

We can share successful strategies

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something to support diversity

Evidence-based things you can do:

+ Be visible 
+ Teach about stereotypes 
+ Use counter-stereotypes 
+ Be a role model 

And we don’t have to do it alone

• Local groups specifically focused on / supporting gender diversity in data science:

  • R-Ladies St. Louis
  • Women in Data Science St. Louis
  • St. Louis Women in Tech Exchange

• Ally groups:

  • St. Louis R Users
    
  • St. Louis Machine Learning & Data Science

Thank you!